Sherrone Moore on philosophy, Ben Herbert, NFL pipelines, OSU, recruiting, player retention, and more
New Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore handled his first press conference like an old pro Saturday, ready to take on the challenge of succeeding a legend in Jim Harbaugh. He’s not conceding anything about next year, is excited about retaining the current roster and coaches, and is prepared to hit the ground running.
In some ways, he already has. He met with the team after signing his contract — many of them were at his introductory presser at the Junge Center and gave him a standing ovation — and he has already started thinking about his staff. One of the keys is to retain strength coach Ben Herbert. Several sources involved with the program said after the hiring (and several more even at the press conference) that Herbert is committed to staying with Moore.
All signs pointed that way. Herbert spoke to the team even before Moore after the coach was made official.
“It was right after Herb talked, so it’s always hard to follow that,” Moore said. “I really just spoke from my heart, told them how I thought about them, what I think about them, how I think we’re going to be this year … what we’re going to do. It’s just exciting about taking the reins and leading the program.”
Herbert declined comment, noting it was “Sherrone’s day. Asked If he was encouraged about retaining Herbert, Moore responded, ‘yeah, very. We’ll take it a day at a time, see what happens. But … I’m definitely excited.”
Moore insisted the Wolverines would continue to play at a high level under his watch with his “smash!” philosophy. That’s worked three years in a row against Ohio State — since the program really made the Buckeyes a focus — and beating the Bucks will remain the priority.
“Yea, 100 percent,” he said. “When we did that as a program, we saw the focus, the change in that kind of shift in the game. We’re going to continue to do that. Everything we do is working towards beating them. Obviously, we won the past three years, but that doesn’t make it automatic in the next one. We’ve got to continue to work on that one.”
Other Moore responses on major topics:
• All signs appear to point to Kirk Campbell being the next offensive coordinator. Moore wasn’t ready to announce names of guys he’d retain, but said he had someone in mind and that he wouldn’t be calling plays himself. It appears Jesse Minter is going to the Los Angeles Chargers with Harbaugh, but Moore told us the philosophy wouldn’t change, no matter which coordinators were hired.
That could well mean going back to the Baltimore Ravens well. John Harbaugh and Jim have both said they’ll continue to pipeline that sent Minter and Mike Macdonald to Ann Arbor.
“One hundred percent … 100 percent,” he said. “That will definitely [be the case]. Coach mentioned that to the players yesterday. It will be cool for them to see. Some of those guys will get drafted or signed by coach this year, so it will continue that way. We’ve definitely now got two pipelines to the NFL.”
• Moore has already talked to several players about staying and believes most will be here next year. They helped create the culture, he noted, and they want to see it through.
“We plan to retain most of them, all that we can, and I think we will,” he said. “I’ve met with a lot of them already. We’ll continue with that process.”
He didn’t flinch when reminded about the losses on offense.
“That’s what college football is. We’ve got a lot of great players coming back though,” he said. “Like that one [pointing to Donovan Edwards]. “We’re going to continue to set the standards, what we’ve done the same way. We lost a lot of great players getting drafted, and we knew it was going to happen. The depth we’ve built … from now on, that’s what we’ll continue to do. We’re not going to rebuild; we’re going to reload.”
• Moore promised to be even more aggressive in recruiting, as well.
“I think it’s huge. You can watch the programs around the country that have sustainability and continued success. Their head coaches are attacking recruiting at a high level,” he said. “Coach [Harbaugh] did that, but I want to take it to another level. I want to attack every single day by recruiting, talking to kids, to make sure we have the resources we need here on campus from NIL and a football standpoint and players to get here.
“But the players have to be a great fit. We’re going to attack that relentlessly. NIL has become a big thing in college football. It’s part of what we do, how we have to operate. Times have changed. We have to continue to evolve, and we will.”
